Ezra Sihite – The newly-appointed chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party, Anis Matta, said on Friday that the naming of the party's former leader as a graft suspect was all just a "big conspiracy."
Anis, the former secretary-general of the Islamist party known as PKS, made the statement shortly after he was announced as the new chairman in Jakarta on Friday, following the resignation of the party's former leader Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, who was detained on Wednesday over graft accusations.
The news of his appointment was welcomed with shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) by other PKS cadres waiting outside the meeting room.
Many of them looked emotional and some were even seen shedding tears as Anis delivered a speech before the press concerning his appointment and Luthfi's graft-suspect status.
"The PKS is facing a big conspiracy aimed at destroying this party," Anis told a press conference after the meeting.
"This, Insha Allah [God Willing], should be a historical event that will wake up the sleeping lion; I believe this is a big signal from Allah that the PKS should make this a momentum to reform ourselves."
He added that Luthfi had the support of PKS cadres and called on them to fight against "tyrannical" actions in anti-graft combat. "Corruption eradication remains an agenda of all of us, but we should fight the use of tyranny in the process," Anis said.
Anis, 44, who is also a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, is the fifth president of the PKS, after Nur Mahmudi Ismal, Hidayat Nurwahid, Tifatul Sembiring and Luthfi.
Luthfi resigned from the PKS on Thursday after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him as a suspect over an alleged bribery case surrounding Indonesia's meat imports quota.
Luthfi was allegedly promised Rp 40 billion ($4.1 million) in bribes from executives of company Indoguna Utama to influence lawmakers in charge of Indonesia's beef import quota to raise that quota.
The party's deputy chairman for youth affairs, Muhammad Taufik Ridho, will replace Anis as the new secretary-general.